tax

/tæks/

noun

1.

a compulsory financial contribution imposed by a government to raise revenue, levied on the income or property of persons or organizations, on the production costs or sales prices of goods and services, etc

2.

a heavy demand on something; strain: a tax on our resources

verb (transitive)

3.

to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)

4.

to make heavy demands on; strain: to tax one's intellect

5.

to accuse, charge, or blame: he was taxed with the crime

6.

to determine (the amount legally chargeable or allowable to a party to a legal action), as by examining the solicitor's bill of costs: to tax costs

7.

(slang) to steal

Derived Forms

taxer, nountaxless, adjective

Word Origin

C13: from Old French taxer, from Latin taxāre to appraise, from tangere to touch

c.1300, "impose a tax on," from Old French taxer "impose a tax" (13c.), from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch" (see tangent). Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1670s; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1560s. Its use in Luke ii for Greek apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale. Related: Taxed; taxing.

n.

early 14c., "obligatory contribution levied by a sovereign or government," from Anglo-French tax, Old French taxe, and directly from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxare (see tax (v.)). Related: taxes. Tax shelter is attested from 1961.